Like many things, the concept of old age homes is a borrowed western concept in India. Especially in Gurgaon, where immigration is high and both the partners work and believe in nuclear families, old age homes are a practical solution for many.

A man's life is normally divided into five main stages namely
infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. In each of
these stages an individual has to find himself in different
situations and face different problems. The old age brings it's own
problems. Nowadays, with a large number of youth hitting foreign
shores and women working outside homes, many aging parents are left
behind alone or put in old people's facilities. It’s a shameful
state of affairs that there has arisen a need for old age homes in
modern times.

In
Focus

Visiting Kriti Hospital in Gurgaon, situated in Sector 56, opened
my eyes to people, who have lives their lives and are waiting
patiently for their families to come back for them. Housing around 50
patients, this hospital is the perfect blend of old age home and
hospitality where people leave their elderly mother or father and
they are taken care of by the staff in return of monetary guarantee.

As I entered the yellow coloured room with a big window by the
side, I saw a hand is stretched towards me with much warmth. Room 102
might have been an ordinary room in an ordinary home in Gurgaon, but
it was just a facility with a patient, who has been ill for the last
eight months and have been waiting for her family ever since.

Young at heart and with a book in her hand, Vrinda or may I say
Dr. Vrinda Swaroop was all smiles and witty lines. When asked as of
why was she here, she replied with a famous phrase ''majboori ka
naam Mahatma Gandhi''. A Ph.D in Sanskrit, Vrinda was the
principal of Gokul Das Hindi Girls PG College (Moradabad) in her
heyday.

Talking of the bygone days, she proudly boasted about her
promotion from being a mother to a grandmother and thereafter a great
grandmother. Still savoring and rejoicing the moment she held her
great grandchild firmly in her arms, she talks at length about her
home and family. The 82 year old replies after a pause when I ask her
about her family and where are they now. ''They come to visit me
often,'' she whispers. Remembering her glory days, she questions,
''kisne socha tha aise din bhi aenge !''

Another man, who wishes to remain anonymous and who cannot really
speak waits each day with the single hope that his family would come
and take him back to what he still thinks as home. There was another
women, who seemed really ill, but irrespective of her condition her
family can make time for her just one day a week. This hospital,
which is home away from home love these people and tries to make them
as comfortable as possible.

Dr. Meenu Tyagi (MBBS, DFM) of Kriti Hospital says ''they are like
a family now, we celebrate every festival with them. They feel like
home here,proper care is provided to the aged with emotional support
as well. They share their various problems with us, to which we try
to find a solution.'' When asked whether their families visit them or
not , she said ''some of the families come, whereas the others just
send in the money for their treatment. Some don't come even once in a
year.'' Children are taken to old age homes from schools to meet and
understand the value of elders in their lives. It is an irony that
what the parents are trying to pass off to their children are absent
in them. The love the elderly bestowed, the sacrifices they made,
their dreams and wishes that they killed for their next generation
seemed to be in vain.

The concept of old age, which is really taking a shine with
Gurgaonites was actually thought of in the early nineteenth century.
Concerned that how the older generation may end up, church groups and
women began establishing special homes for the elders in the west.

Not everything is wrong with the system as in some cases, it is
better for the old parents to stay in an old age home. If the
children stay in a different country and parents do not want to spend
their last years in a foreign country, then the old age homes prove
to be a good option where they can also visit their children through
occasional trips. One more good reason for the parents to stay in old
age homes is that if they face humiliation and disregard at home, old
age home will help them rebuild their self respect and also they can
find other old people as their new companions.

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